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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

J. H. PLAGLBR.

ROOF FOR FURNAGES.

No. 325,403. Patented Sept. l, 1885.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets- Sheet 2. J. H. PLAGLER.

ROUE' FOR PURNAGES. No'. 325,403i Patented Sept.. l, 1885..

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PATENT rineso JOHN H. FLAGLER, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

ROOF OF FURNACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 325,403I dated September 1, 1885.

Application filed January 3l, 1884. (No modell) To all 2071/0772/ it may cm2/cera:

Be it known that I, VJoHN H. FLAGLER, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improveuientin the Construction of the Roofs of Tube-lVelding and other Furnaces; and I do hereby declare the following to be a Y full, clear, and exact description thereof.

My invention relates to the construction of furnaces, having special reference to the furnaces employed for heating plates or ske] p in the manufacture of Wrought-metal tubing.

In regenerative gas-furnaces it has been found that Where the furnace-roof was arched, as the gas and air were not thoroughly intermiugled at the side or end where they entered the furnacechamber, complete combustion did not take place at that side or end of the chamber, and as the chamber increased in size the center was not highly heated, but a high heat was obtained at the opposite side or end thereof just before the products of conibustion entered the ports to pass through the regenerators to the stack, and in these cha1nbers much of the heat in the center thereof was obtained from the radiation or reverberation of the heat from the roof down into the metal. To overcome this in small furnacessuch as paddling or open-hearth furnacesthe roof was given the form of an inverted arch, so that the gas, air, and flame were thrown by the sloping roof down into the furnace bed or hearth, and this form of furnace has given much better results, as the gas and air were more thoroughly intermingled by contact with this sloping roof, and the flame was brought into direct contact with the metal or glass to be heated or melted; 'and as the furnace-ch amber was not so high in the center this was the hottest part of the chamber. These inverted or depressed roofs could be easily formed in small furnaces, as the inverted arch could be supported by a regular arch at right angles thereto, or the centra-l or key course of theinverted arch could extend above the roof and be supported by a rod passing through holes therein and supported by the furnace-walls. In single-draft heating and puddling furnaces the roof has been supported by a curved or arched metal bearer, having its ends resting on the furnace-roof, and provided with rods extending down and fitting' around a longitudinallyextending bar bent to the curve of the roof, said bar sup-V porting a key-course of brick from which the 5 5 roof is built to the furnace-walls. In long furnaces employed for heating or welding skelp or tub i`ng,and certain snieltingfurnaces, however, it is necessary that the roof be of substantially the saine height the Whole length 6o of the furnace, and as the furnaces are from eighteen to fifty feet in length, this inverted arch cannot be supported by the regular arch at right angles thereto, and neither the rod passing through holes in the key-brick and supported by the furnace-walls, nor the curved or arched metal bearer extending longitudinally of the furnace and resting on the roof, from which metal bearer the bar is suspended, could be practcably employed to support the key-course. In soine large double heatingfurnaces the'samc difficulties are also encountered. In tube-furnaces this regular arched roof is found exceedingly objectionable, as the heated skelp is pushed from the center of the 7 5 chamber, and is heated there only by the heat radiated or reverberated from the upper part of the chamber, so that it is difficult to raise it to the required heat for welding, while if the skelp is heated at the side of the chamber 8o where the greatest heat is generated there is a liability of the iron being too highly heated,

or burned, and the skelp is so soft that it cannot be brought to the center to be delivered to the rolls without losing its shape. For these reasons an efficient and practicable means of building the roofs of these large or long furnaces with an inverted arch is extreniel y desirable.

My invention consists, essentially, in sup- 9o porting the central or key course of these invertedarch roofs by means of a hollow holder within which the brick or tile tit, said holder being hung from beams or girders extending across the furnace above the roof and resting on the fnrnacewalls, the key-course so supported forming the skew-backs from which the roof-walls are built to the outer furnacewalls.

It also consists in supporting the key-course 10o of the long furnace-roofs by a series of holders and supporting each holderseparately from the furnace-walls, the weight of the roof being thus distributed over differentparts of the walls, and all injury thereto fromexpansion, contraction, or warpage of the ikeycourse holders or their supports by the heat of the furnace being overcome.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, YIwill describe the same more fully, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a cross-section of the tube-Welding furnace, illustrating my invention. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of a portion of the furnace. Fig. 3 isa top view of-the same. Fig. 4 is a perspective View of the; box holding the key-course of tile. Fig. 5 is.' a cross-section of a furnace showing another' form of the holder and .key-'course supported thereby. f

Like letters .of refereuceindicate like parts in each.

-In .the drawings, a represents the A'furnacechamber; a', the :hearth or bed; .11, Athe=side or end wallsfrom which the `roof vis 4thrown; .c, the air-ports, and ltithe gassports over the side` of the chamber a, these ports leadingto the regenerators. Th ese `parts areof the usualorA any approved construction. The furnace-'walls are 3 built up above the points wherethe Vroofwalls rest on them, as atb, and are toppedfby th eplates `i b2, and on these walls-are su pported thevbeams or girders e; andzto allow :for expansion orcon= traction of these girdersfbecause of the-heat rising from the furnace and to overconiefric- 5 tion, they are supported on rollers e2, resting ori-the top plates, b2, so that all strain to l the furnace from such .canse is overcome. 'y From these girders e are hungor supported g the key-conrse holders f, within lor by which are held the key-course H "of brick or .tile, which Aforms the skew-backs or abutments from which the roof-arches on either sideare;` thrown to the furnace-.walls b-or, in other words, `the keystone or vkey courseof Athe 2inverte'd archfof the roof.

The means preferred by me .for supporting these parts are as follows: vOver the center of the furnace the girderse are re-enforced,as at e, and bolt-holes formed 'through them, and the holders are hung from these girders by heavy bolts g,passingthrough these boltholes and secured thereinI by nuts g. The holders f, preferred by me, are shown in rFigs. lto 4,

and are formed of cast metal and made theg length of each course-section orroosection lc in the furnace-roof, being generally from five to seven feet long, and the required n um-E ber being employed in each furnace, according to its length. lIt has the dovetail or lequivalent recess Z, in which the upper portion of the key blocks or tile h fit, Ithese tile h beingy formed doubledovetailed, and one portion fitting within the holder, while the other por-1 tion hangs down above the furnace-chamber' to form the vkey. of the inverted arch,as above referred to, the faces 7L of lthese blocks forming the skew-backs ofthe rooffarches m, which are built of the usual brick-work, over to the walls b, the opposite ends of the arch rest-ing on .the .skew-,backs b4 on 4said walls; To connect the holders f to fthe bolts, I cast on the top thereof the ribs f', having recessed slots or seats p formed therein, corresponding to the heads of the bolts g, and these bolt-heads fit into -t-he seats, thus hanging the holder and its Atile course H above the furnace-chamber. The ribs may be strengthened by the cleats p -or'other means, as desired. The under surface of the`key-course H has the same curve fforms Lpartfof the ydepressed roof, whether' it beformed ofsingle central blocks or of several shape-blocks.

In building the furnace the key-course H, supported as rabove described, isadjusted by the .nuts `g to the `desired .height above the furnace-bed -in the tube-welding furnaces, .the

half ithe yheight Lof the regular Iarched roof heretofore employed. Fach section :k of the key-course fis su.pportedfseparately, and if any special angle is to be .given ',to the .roof the section may :be ,adj usted accordingly. The. builder then throws the .roof ffromsthe central key-.course over tothe skew-back on the .furnace-walls yand can 'impart to the roof any curveorsslopedesired. Theroofportionsmay bebuilt'in sections in the samemanner as the key-course is formed, `and where lthe :roof t'or some dportion of .it requires .frequent .rebuilding thisis desirable, as it `prevents any disturbing of theot'henportionthereof. Where, however, the roof remains `for a longcperiod itfis not necessary to form .it sectional, the sectional key-courseallowing for any shrinkage, expansion, or warpageofthe sectionalcourse or its supports. After the building of the rooffitzis clamped tightlyftogether'byimeans of of the furnace. This constructionzof,furnace- 'roofispreferredrby me,.as it requires but one shape-:bri ck,.nam el y, the double-dovetailbrick, -fittingaiu the dovetail recesses in thezholder. Theaholderfis also entirelyiabove the roof, y.and is therefore but little exposed .to theheat Vofthe furnace and is surrounded by the air, sotthat anyheat passingup through-the brickwork is quickly carried off, Vand vfor Lthese ".reasonsit is not as Aliable to Warpage as where :it is inclosed within the brick-work of the lroof.

In Fig. isillustrated another form of my improved lroof, which will be make thersubjectof a separate application. This 'construction is also ,found efficient for the purposeand :to possess some special advantages. In this iigurethe `principal Aportion of vthe roof .over the furnace-chamber is formed of these special shapezbrick .ortilesupported by theholder. The .holder f2 isdivided Ylongitudinally into two parts, ss, toallowfor-expansion and contraction thereof, each part being support- -edby-theioolts gand girders ein ftheLmanner as the inverted arch, so that this key-course centerofithe .depressed Iroof ,being about vone\ IOC .theibolts r passing through .the-brick'stays .r v

1rol

above described. Within the-:holder are two shape-bricks, t t, fitting against the innerfaces thereof and around a portionv of the bases,and

between these bricks t t is the Wedge-brick t', which wedges them against the dovetail sides thereof. The parts s s of the holder are provided at the base with the longitudinal web s', and the shape-bricks t2 fit against the outer faces of the holder and around these Webs s', being thus supported thereby, the holders thus supporting a much broader key-course, H2, above the furnace-chamber. As these shapebrick are liable to crack or break along the line where they are recessed to lit around the holder on account of uneven expansion or contraction, to distribute the Weight of the roof-arches over the entire surface of the central course, l employ the face-blocks u, and build the arch of common brick from these -faceblocks to the side Walls.

It is evident that by my invention I ani enabled to build these furnaces with invertedarch roofs of any desired width,curve, or slope, and any lengt-h, and that, therefore, all the advantageous results heretofore obtained from them in small furnaces may be obtained in large heating and long smelting or tube-welding furnaces. Practical use has shown that in tube-welding furnaces with such roofs the greatest heat is thrown to the center of the hearth, and that therefore the furnace can be operated much more advantageously, the tubes being inserted at the sides and moderately heated and then brought to the center under the depressed roof, Where they are subjected to the direct contact of thevflame' and highest heat just before they are delivered to the rolls. As thehighest heat is in the center of the chamher, and the tubes are heated by direct contact of the iiamc instead of radiation, the furnace' can be operated with less fuel.

I am aware that the roofof an annealing-kiln for flattening glass has been supported by a metal girder extending across the center of the kiln and braced or partly supported by a overcome, as the key-course of brick-work is supported by a holder hung entirely from girders or cross-beams resting on the furnaeewalls, and hence can be arranged in any desired position, and the brick-work only is exposed to the heat of the furnace, the metal holders of the key-course being fullyprotected thereby, and the roof Will consequently withstand very high heat. As the key-course is supported in sections,the Warpage of the holder supporting each section is not appreciable, and does not affect the roof, and the inverted roof may be made of any length desired.

What I claim as my invention,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In furnace-roofs, the combination of a holder hung from above the roof and having a dovetailed or similar recess therein, one or more courses of brick or tile supported by said holder and forming the central or key course of the roof, and roof-arches extending from said key-course to the furnace-Walls, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. A furnace roof formed of a central or key course of brick-work and courses of brick-Work extending therefrom to the furnace-Walls, said key-course being formed in sections supported by a series of holders having a dovetailed or similar recess therein, and said holders being supported separately by transverse beams extending across the furnace and resting on the furnace-Walls, substantially as set forth.

3. In furnace-roofs, the combination, with the holder f, supported from above the roof and having the dovetailed recess Z, of the double-dovetailed brick or tile fitting therein and extending below the holder to form the key of the inverted arch, substantially as set forth.

4. In furnace-roofs, the combination, with the furnace-Walls, of the rollers e2 on the top of said Walls, the beams or girders resting on said rollers, and the key-course holder hung from said beams and supporting the key-course of the roof, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereofl, the said JOHN H. FLAGLER, have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN H. FLAGLER. lVitncsses:

A. CHaNnoN, Jamas I. KAY. 

